Israel Visa and Arab travel?
February 16, 2010 by
Filed under Arab Travel
If I have an Israeli visa in my passport, will I have trouble traveling to Arab countries?
I did ask the Israeli Embassy if they would give me the visa on a separate piece of paper and not stamped in my passport. They declined.
Some Arab countries have reasonably good diplomatic relations with Israel and visiting these countries (listed below) after a visit to Israel shouldn’t be a problem whatsoever. However, there are of course a number of Arab countries that would rather curl up and die than have a visitor with an Israel-stamped passport step through their immigration…
As many visitors to Israel often make short trips over the border to Jordan and Egypt/the Sinai Peninsula, the question of whether an Israeli stamp in your passport will limit travel to these countries is a very valid one.
Fortunately, the list of Arab nations that are more than happy to accept visitors with Israeli stamps in their passport include two of Israel’s immediate neighbors, Egypt and Jordan. It might not surprise you that the two other countries that share a land border (but not a crossing point) with Israel, Lebanon and Syria, do NOT permit visitors to their country if any trace of a visit to Israel is found in a passport.
And what is meant by “any trace of a visit to Israel”? Well, eagle-eyed immigration clerks are often on the lookout for indications of a visit to Israel, as they know it is standard practice for Israeli immigration to stamp entry and exit visas on a separate piece of paper (if requested). What can give the game away and cause the end of your visit is Egyptian or Jordanian border control stamps if you popped across the border from Israel to Amman, Cairo or Sinai. This is evidence enough that you visited the evil state of Israel and you will be wished Bon Voyage right back to where you came from. Even security check stickers and luggage tags issued at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport have been known to bring visits to an end, so get rid of all traces of these if you plan on visiting any of the countries in the list of “bad guys” below.
Arab countries that accept visitors with Israeli stamped passports:
United Arab Emirates Egypt Jordan Oman Morocco
Arab countries that DO NOT accept visitors with Israeli stamped passports:
Syria Lebanon Libya Kuwait Iran Iraq Pakistan Saudi Arabia Sudan Yemen
http://igoogledisrael.com/2009/09/can-i-visit-arab-countries-with-an-israeli-visa-stamp-in-my-passport/